Pop Travel (41 page)

d took the back stairs down to Nate’s station.

“What’s going on?”

Nate pointed to the blip on the imager.

“Geri checked out a car and is headed west. But she disabled the bugs in the car.”

“Good, she is probably taking Cooper home herself. Keep a lock on the car’s tracking device. We can follow them to the last piece of evidence. Get Lipton to intercept them,” he ordered. “Once he has what we need, he can take care of them however he chooses, as long as it looks like an accident. I’ve had enough of this.”

“Yes, sir,” Nate said in a shaky voice. “Uh. Dawson is also on the move. He got a strange message this morning and left in a hurry. His car GPS showed him driving to another house, then to the Oakland Southwest Airport. He owns a small plane there. I had Paul tap the control tower. He flew to Monroe-Walton County Airport, scheduled to land in a few minutes.”

“Play the message,” Ed demanded.

They watched it.

“It must be a code. Figure it out, face-match that woman, and get me Blake!”

PTI Corporate Offices, Atlanta, GA
9:00 a.m., Saturday, July 27

“Tell me again, slowly. What happened in the lab?”

As personnel scrambled around behind his chief security officer, Ray ran his hand through his hair. He knew he looked rough, and he felt rough. He probably had deep dark circles under his eyes and his stubble was turning soft.

“The FBI agent Blake got something from the woman agent, then forced Hasan to test the new transport procedure on her. Hasan transmitted her. Then Blake threw a knife into the receiving dock. It looks like he wanted to kill her, but Hasan must have sent her somewhere else because she wasn’t there,” Manny said.

Ray rubbed his temples. He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of pills. He shook a couple into his hand before he spoke again.

“I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Everything is unraveling,” he mumbled to himself. “So she’s gone?”

“Yes.”

“And this Blake person is still in there with Hasan? And he has what? Did they say what it was?”

“Yes. The woman gave Blake a couple of stick drives.”

“If he’s armed, you need to get in there and protect Hasan.”

“But we don’t think he intends Hasan any…”

“Get in there!”

“We tried. He won’t let us in!” a guard shouted over Manny’s shoulder.

“You are letting that stop you? I said
get in there!
”

“We’ll find a way in, sir,” another guard said. Ray watched two guards rush away in the background.

“Without risking Hasan!” Manny called after them. He turned back to the imager. “There’s more, Ray.”

“What?”

“Hasan is refusing to do any more work unless he is guaranteed control of the testing and implementation. And more freedom.”

“This Agent Blake person is putting up with that? Tell Hasan whatever you need to get him moving. I’m sure the agent will have no trouble agreeing with that. All the more reason for our guys to get inside. I have a few loose ends to tie up then I will pop back over. Keep Hasan safe! We’re
so close!
” He pounded his desk.

“Yes, sir.”

They disconnected.

As Ray took some more Aceta 3, his vid phone indicator flashed.

Great. What does she want? “Hello, Vivienne,” he said in a dour tone, opening the frame.

“Hello, Ray.” She creeped him out with her extra-wide smile. “You look like hell. Everything all right over there?”

“Certainly. Hasan is working on an implementation plan for the improvements to pop travel as we speak.” He ran his hands through what hair he had left. He hoped she couldn’t tell he was lying.

“Wonderful. That’s exactly what Ed told me. No problems, then?”

“No.”

“Good. Now be sure to call me if I can help in any way. Got it?”

“Thank you, Vivienne. Will do.” He disconnected.

The mother hen is double-checking everyone’s stories now. If he had to kiss up to one more person, his lips would fall off. At least dependable Charles had sent him a decent get-out-of-jail speech. He hoped it was good enough. Then again, he hoped he wouldn’t have to use it.

Walnut Grove, GA
10:45 a.m., Saturday, July 27

Dawson walked into Joe’s and grinned at Miki in her poofy, canary yellow bridesmaid dress. The yellow feathers in her hair were the best part.

As she waved at him, she and Jared got up to meet him. Their forced smiles couldn’t hide their worry. They looked older, too. Dawson waited by the door and gave them a reassuring nod, even though he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“What’s the emergency? Where is Cooper?” he asked when they got to him. He tried not to smirk at Miki’s outrageous dress.

“Stop laughing at me! This is serious! Let’s go!” Miki huffed.

Jared followed and made a flying birdy motion with his hands for Dawson who grinned back at him.

Miki caught them and glared.

“Sorry,” Jared said.

They rode in Miki’s car, and she explained to Dawson what she and Jared had been through. By the time she told him about knocking Cooper out, taking the drive, and turning him in, they arrived at Jared’s house. Dawson sat in the car for a minute to digest everything.

“Okay. So the FBI has him?” Dawson asked.

“I guess so.”

“Well, what was on the drive?”

She sighed and her eyes drooped.

“Come downstairs and see,” she said.

“Yeah, it’s incredible!” Jared said.

Miki swatted him.

“I mean it’s incredibly awful.”

They went down to the basement. Dawson scrunched his face but didn’t comment on the mess. Or the horrible smell. He’d have to remember this for a possible future line of defense.

“You need to sit down for this.” Miki offered him the chair at the desk. Jared played the video for Dawson. It started with Hasan’s introduction.

When it ended, Dawson felt nauseated. As he touched his temple, things fell into place.

“I can’t believe Cooper didn’t say anything.”

“So what should we do?” Miki asked.

“We need to get this on the air. Maybe use the Qnet,” Dawson said, trying to figure out the best course of action.

“I can help,” Jared said, but they ignored him.

“Not the Qnet, the government monitors that,” Miki reminded him.

“Right. I have tech people in my office that might be able to hook something up. But how would I get them the information?” he said, thinking out loud.

“I can do it!” Jared piped louder. They still didn’t listen to him.

“We have to hurry so we can help Cooper,” Miki added.

“I know. I can call…”

“
I can do it!
” Jared shouted.

They both turned to him with wide eyes.

“Did you say something, Jared?” Dawson asked.

“All I have to do is hack into the major satellite networks. Once I’m in, I can access their outgoing feeds. My friend Warren showed me the trick to it so he could get free porn. It’s easy. It shouldn’t be hard to send a broadcast out the same way. And I know how to turn off the government eye—I’ve been under their radar for years.”

“Impressive,” Dawson said. “And I didn’t hear that.”

“I never knew you were so smart, honey!” Miki gushed.

“When can you have it ready to go?”

“I should be able to rig it in less than an hour. But I might have to call Warren for some help.”

Miki lunged at him with a huge hug and whispered in his ear, “I am so turned on right now!”

“That’s enough. Let him get to work, Miki. You can help me put together some comforting words to add to the video. Hasan did a good job, but he was very technical in his explanation. The people will need more personal reassurance after seeing that.”

“So, how long have you been a spy?” Cooper asked. He couldn’t take the uncomfortable silence any longer. They had ridden for a while, not sure what to say to each other. In a few minutes, they would be in Walnut Grove.

Geri glanced at him. “Eight years. Why are you a Peeping Tom?” she asked.

“For the fame and fortune. Look where it got me.” He grinned.

She stared at the road ahead. Another joke wasted.

“I’m sorry about your wife,” Geri said, breaking the silence again.

“Life goes on,” Cooper said.
Where did that come from?

“Has it?”

He ignored that question and looked in the rearview mirror.

“I think we’re being followed.”

“Undoubtedly. These company cars all have trackers built into them.”

“Are you setting me up?”

“No. I thought you’d assume we would be followed.”

“Thanks for the confidence in my skepticism. But you’re right, I expected it. So we need to ditch the dopes and the car.”

“Good idea. This is your turf. Where to?”

“The diner. I don’t want to lead them directly to Miki and her family. She’s got a wedding today.”

“Aw, is she getting married? I haven’t been to a wedding in a while.” Geri didn’t seem too concerned about the guys behind them.

“No, her sister. The diner is straight ahead.”

“What a nice little town,” she said.

“I’ll give you a tour someday.”

“I’d like that.” She smiled. He locked her warm expression into his memory, not sure if he would be able to go through with his offer.

They pulled over in front of Joe’s. The agents passed them, u-turned, and parked across the street. Cooper stifled the urge to wave at them.

“Hey, Joe,” Cooper greeted as they went in.

“Haven’t seen you for a few days. Where ya been?”

“Had to do some business travel. Anything exciting happen while I was gone?”

“Miki disappeared and gave her mom quite a scare. Little vixen stayed out all night at a concert or some such nonsense. This morning, she came in wearing her pretty, yellow bridesmaid dress. Then your brother came in—”

Cooper cut him off.

“Dawson? Was here?”

“Sure. That struck me as odd, too. Especially without you. But it’s none of my business, I s’pose. He left with Miki and Jared. It’s been an eventful morning here at the diner.”

“I guess so. Uh, Joe, could I borrow your QV?”

“Of course. Here ya go.”

As Joe tossed it to him, he caught a glimpse of Geri down the counter. Joe’s wife was serving her coffee. Joe whispered to Cooper out of the corner of his mouth.